MIKE Mrowicki represents the Windham-4 district (Putney, Dummerston, and Westminster) in the state Legislature and is a longtime Putney resident. (He notes that he writes from a white perspective, cognizant that this country has in our history attempted genocide of the First Nations peoples here, and that Jim Crow actions against people of color continue right into present day.)
PUTNEY-I’ve heard resistance actions described as “Fifty Shades of Gray-Hair Resisting.” Another term I’ve heard is “grand-tifa.”
While we gray hairs are not the only ones stepping up in resistance to the actions of the Epstein-deniers running the federal government, we are making a good show of ourselves as we fill the streets protesting what were, until recently, unimaginable actions of our government against its own people.
This most recent nationwide protest was an act of resistance. It was also an act of celebration: Celebration of being together. Celebration that democracy is something we are not ready to let go of.
And celebration that we are not ready to roll over for those of the Epstein class who feel their money can buy them anything, from sexual abuse of children, to elections, to an obliviousness of the history of how elites fare when the distance between the have-nots and the have-yachts grows too disparate.
When I’m asked if it matters to go out to rallies like No Kings, to hold signs, and to march in solidarity, I contend that, indeed, it does. Big time.
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One thing I can say about all elected officials: They know how to count.
Coming out in increasingly greater numbers makes a difference to get elected officials and the media to pay attention and witness the actions of the Epstein class running this government. The world needs to see that they don’t really represent the majority, and this is not who we are.
We are about preserving democracy, and it is worth our time to show up. Democracy is about sharing power and self-governing, about having a government that can at least attempt to create equality by leveling the playing field. Democracy is exactly what the current administration in Washington, D.C., is not interested in.
Our actions can be effective. We have seen what happened in Minnesota, when the people rose up en masse to stand together, nonviolently, against the obscenity of armed, masked hordes invading their state and against the ultimate killing of several unarmed people.
Eventually, federal immigration officials retreated, and Kristi Noem was replaced as the leader of the Department of Homeland Security, which orchestrated the violence.
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But we must stay vigilant, even in Vermont, as we saw Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) show up in South Burlington a few weeks ago.
We would do well to be Minnesota-ready — to meet the standard that we saw in Minneapolis for collectively stepping up in the face of oppression, injustice, and atrocity.
That would mean more than showing up in large numbers daily.
We would need people to run carpools to drive the Brown and Black children of farm workers to school because their parents were being cautious about being in public and becoming targets of ICE.
Neighbors would need to shop for those staying inside so as not to become targets of ICE.
And, in the most horrible scenario, we would need to step in to help someone being assaulted by ICE — like Alex Pretti, even though he paid for it with his life.
So are we Minnesota-ready to unite, work together and persevere resolutely should the Epstein class running the federal government decide to target our brave little state?
Are we ready to show up at the polls if the current president’s private army shows up at voting places to intimidate voters? Or try to — literally — steal ballots?
What if the president decides that invading Vermont would divert the headlines from the Epstein reality?
I’d like to believe we are Minnesota-ready.
But I hope we don’t have to find out.
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